Enough
by PlasticPencils
Summary: When someone has had enough, they crack. When no one is there to help them, they break. When they break, it's all over...and nothing can be done to save them. Sam is on the verge of breaking. She's sitting at Death's doorstep, waiting for him to open the door and let her in. T for anorexia, bulimia, and depression. DXS First DP story. Flames not accepted.
1. Chapter 1

~Prologue~

My best friend is very sick. She deprives her body of nutrients. Is it physical? It's become physical. Is it mental? More than you can possibly imagine. And this water runs deep in her veins. I constantly worry for health. She gets worse and worse with each passing day. She's really gone downhill. Her life fell apart. She didn't know how to handle it. I have two best friends. She loves the other one. She's always loved him. He never notices. He's too busy drooling over the most popular girl in school to realize that she can't take it anymore. But it's not just him. If it was only him, she wouldn't be like this now. Her mother died in a horrible car accident two weeks ago. That was when she finally broke. She stopped eating. She stopped drinking. She stopped holding back her tears. My heart breaks for her. I'm always trying to get her to eat and drink. Sometimes I succeed. But she can no longer keep down what she eats. I can get her to drink ginger ale. It helps sometimes. Other times she can't keep that down either. She turns to me for support. I'm not sure how much longer I can give it to her.

**A/N**

**There will be longer chapters. As in, 3,000 word chapters. This prologue is short, but it explains what happened. It's also in Tucker's POV, but the POVs will change as the story progresses. **

**It's my first DP story. -_- My friend pressured me into writing it. So...yeah, it's crap. Hope you enjoy it anyway. (my friend is laughing at me right now so if someone can prove her wrong, that would be great)**


	2. Chapter 2

~Chapter 1~

(Sam's POV)

I was always so hungry now. Yesterday Tucker managed to get me to eat some salted crackers. He made me drink ginger ale. I had a hard time keeping it down, but I did it. My stomach growled for the first time in a week. I didn't have much of an appetite though. See, my mother died just two weeks ago. Her funeral was two days ago. She died in a car accident. It was raining and she was going to the grocery store. She never got to the grocery store. Two other people were killed in that wreck, and their child was hospitalized with critical injuries. He's still in ICU, to my knowledge. He'll have to be put up for adoption because his only other relative was his grandmother, who had dementia and didn't even remember how to take care of herself, let alone a seven year old boy. They wouldn't let us see my mother in her casket; they said she was too "torn up" from the accident. Apparently the car in front of her was leaking oil and the driver was heading to a garage to get it fixed. Rain and oil didn't mix. She lost control of the car, slammed into the car in the lane beside her, and made both cars flip and roll over one another. Her car had been left on its side by the time the wreck came to a stop. The other car had been left upside down.

Witnesses said they heard a terrifying screech followed by metal crushing metal. Two other cars that had been passing by received flat tires from the shattered glass. My dad and I went to the site of the wreck after the road had been closed off. It was horrible. I saw traces of blood, still wet and red from the damp conditions of the grass. Glass from headlights, taillights, mirrors, and windows reflected the rapidly flashing police lights. Ambulances had arrived, but the only survivor was the now homeless child. When we got there, all the bodies had been taken up.

Both cars involved in the accident were completely destroyed. One of them was steaming despite the rain. They were both badly damaged, almost beyond recognition. Some of the metal had ripped and curled in on itself. There were gaping holes, most of which were on the sides. The door on the right side of my mother's car had been torn off its hinges. I didn't care if an electrical fire spewed flames at me, I dashed to my mother's car in spite of my father's attempts to hold me back. I found her necklace, the metal bent and half the jewels missing. I also found two CD's that she loved to listen to while she drove, both broken. Some of the glass from the shattered headlights had red still trickling down their edges. I found her wedding ring, and knew that at some point it had been ripped off her finger. I gave the ring to my father. He hung his head and held it to his chest. Tears rolled down his face. I found sticks of chewing gum. The wrappers were torn wide open and the box was nowhere to be seen. There were deep trenches in the ground where the cars had run off the road and began their death dance. A shredded tire was the laying in the mud a little ways back, flattened and lifeless. It had no rim. We couldn't identify which car the tire belonged to. Part of me didn't want to know.

The images were now burned deep into my memory, and I knew I would never forget what I saw that night. It was too gruesome to think about but my mind kept replaying the scene, over and over. I couldn't stop it. It hurt all the worse because the last thing I ever said to my mother was, "I hate you!" The last thing I ever did when she was alive was storm up to my room. The last thing I ever saw of her was her sad face. Now she was gone forever and I would never be able to make amends. I never meant what I said. I didn't hate her, I loved her. I still loved her. I wanted her to come back. For some reason I woke up in the mornings still expecting her to be downstairs. And then I realized she wasn't going to be downstairs anymore...and everything would come rushing back to me.

It seemed so unreal, like it couldn't possibly have happened. But it did. And I regretted ever having been born. I regretted fighting with her all the time. I wanted to say I was sorry. Now I never could.

* * *

(Tucker's POV)

I sighed, not from frustration, not from relief, not from annoyance, but from compassion. Sam had told me she went to the site with her father. I didn't know what she saw there, being as she refused to talk about it, but I knew it was bad. I could help but wonder if she saw her mother's body there.

She was now having another breakdown, leaning on my shoulder and sobbing. When she needed to scream, she would burrow her face into my shirt and let it out. I didn't mind. I was her best friend. This was what best friends were for. I wanted to be here for her, to help her. She begged me not to tell Danny about this, about what happened. So far I had kept it from him...for her sake, if nothing else. He didn't know how little she was eating. I didn't even know whether or not she was eating at home. All I knew was that her energy was fading. All Danny knew was that she had been studying too hard.

I noticed she was getting skinnier. Her weight had to be dropping. Her strength, both mental and physical, had been weakening. Her eyes were always red and puffy, and her face often had pinkish spots all over it from where she had been crying too hard. I was shocked Danny hadn't noticed this by now. Sure, Paulina was beautiful, but Sam was going through a really rough time right now. She needed his support too. He just... He was always too oblivious to ever notice anything going on around him, especially when Paulina was around. The only thing he ever really noticed was a ghost, and that was only because of his ghost sense.

"It's okay, Sam," I whispered once she calmed down to a sniffling level.

She kept sniffling, but nodded her head. Because of her inability to eat and hold down food and drinks, her movements were either slow or faint. She was failing P.E. She couldn't focus in class. She refused to eat anything and when she did, she threw up. I didn't think it was her fault anymore. Honestly, I was convinced that her body couldn't handle having food in it. Now she pushed away food because it made her queasy, and threw up because she couldn't take it.

"I brought you a piece of bread. You think you could eat that?" I asked as I rubbed her back.

She nodded again, still sniffling and desperately trying to wipe away her tears. Her eyes had to be rubbed raw by now. Those tears wouldn't stop coming. Wiping them away wouldn't help; they would only be replaced by new ones. I was surprised to see she had any fluids left in her. But the fact that she was _able_ to cry was a good thing. It meant she wasn't completely dehydrated. And right now, dehydration was what I worried about most. People died quicker from lack of water than lack of food. She still had water...that was good.

I handed her the piece of bread and she hesitated to bite into it. She held it loosely in her hand, examining it. Stalling. Now, a single piece of bread wouldn't seem like much, but to Sam, it was a lot. She never ate much, if anything at all. So any food that I could get in her stomach was a victory, a feat that I had accomplished. But I always needed the help of ginger ale. I tried other drinks that were supposed to help, but ginger ale seemed to be the only thing that worked. And right now my motto was "whatever works".

"Come on, Sam. Try to eat, and I'll give you a little ginger ale to help keep it down," I said, pushing her hand closer to her mouth.

If there was one thing I had learned since I first started taking care of Sam, it was to be very careful about your words. Upsetting her would make things ten times worse, and ten times harder.

I smiled when I saw her start nibbling the bread. I knew better than to get my hopes up though. If she started to gag, I would have to hold her head up and encourage her to fight through it to get that food down. But even after it was in her stomach, I would have to quickly give her some ginger ale. She would only sip on it for a few seconds, but sometimes she got enough in her system to digest her food. I had to wait a few minutes to see whether or not she would throw up. If she did, she wouldn't even _try_ to eat again for the next several hours. That was why getting her to eat properly was considered a victory.

She didn't gag. She only ate about...oh...just over a quarter of the bread slice. Only once had I ever gotten her to eat half a slice. Ever since then I had been hoping to get her to eat to the halfway mark, but she never did. It was a one-time thing. But hey, at least she ate something.

I handed her a small can of ginger ale and put a bendy straw in it. She wouldn't drink barely any of it, but I knew she would be willing to drink a little bit. She was always ready for a drink after she ate.

I saw the fluid rise and fall with each sip. It was carbonated and mixed with green tea. It was healthy, vegan, and helpful. Now all that was left to do was wait.

"Do you want to try to eat some more?" I asked.

She shook her head and kept sipping on the ginger ale.

"Are you sure? You're getting a little skinny," I pointed out.

She drew her mouth from the the straw and replied, "Good, maybe then I'll be as small as Paulina."

Yeah. This was just how bad Sam had gotten. She wasn't herself anymore. She didn't even realize what she was saying half the time. Sometimes she turned things back on Danny. Other times she would blame herself for her mother's death. If I could trade places with her, I would. Sam already knew life wasn't fair, but when her mom died, it pushed her over the edge. The only way she could cope with it was by not eating. Now she couldn't cope with it at all, and her body rejected food.

* * *

(Danny's POV)

I had noticed recently that Sam wasn't quite herself. She was acting weird. She always snuck out of school grounds with Tucker when lunchtime came around. I didn't really know where they were headed, but Paulina happened to be sitting a little closer to me than usual lately. This was a stroke of good fortune for me. Having the prettiest and most popular girl in school within just feet of where you were sitting...it was an amazing feeling. Tucker told me I would get over Paulina but he was so wrong. This girl was perfect in every way! Her skin was flawless and practically glowed, she was short but not too short, and her frame was just right. She was really stunning, especially up close. And the closer she got, the better I felt.

And the more nervous I felt. I mean, talking to pretty girls wasn't exactly easy. Being smooth wasn't my specialty, and that seemed to be a characteristic Paulina was looking for in a guy. At least she liked half of me though. Sometimes it paid to put your life at risk. And to think I got to hold her whenever I moved her away from danger! Heh heh...who's better now, Dash?

I sighed and rested my head on the palm of my hand. She. Was. Gorgeous.

"Hey, Danny," I heard Tucker greet me.

I waved my free hand but kept my focus on the goddess in front of me. For once her back wasn't facing me. I could see her side view. Not that her back wasn't fine, but I liked seeing her face better. She had the face of an _angel_.

"Hey," I heard Sam say faintly.

Another thing that was a little off about Sam...her voice. It was usually weak and scratchy. I was positive it was nothing more than another statement about...oh, letting even the softest of voices be heard. Or something like that at least.

"Tell me you're not still staring at Paulina, dude," Tucker mumbled.

"Why not? She's amazing, just look at her!" I chirped.

I heard a strange sound behind me...something that sounded kind of like...er... I couldn't put my finger on it. Well, no, no...it sounded a little like gagging.

I lifted my head and turned around to see Tucker guiding Sam into the school. Her head was hung to a point where I couldn't see her face. Before I knew it she was gone, out of sight and earshot. But what was up with that? This wasn't the first time I'd seen Tucker walking away with Sam at his side. It also wasn't the first time I'd heard her gag. I figured she was just getting sick. Tucker was probably helping her out. I was her friend; I probably should start helping out...

**A/N**

**I don't think I can do 3,000 word chapters. So...enjoy. The word-per-chapter thing isn't fixed and will fluctuate throughout the story.**


	3. Chapter 3

~Chapter 2~

(Sam's POV)

I hated throwing up. It sucked. It really did. And I had to go through it just about every day. I could barely eat. I always felt sick at my stomach and I knew it was because I wasn't eating. But I couldn't bring myself to do it... It made my stomach flip just to think about eating. And when Tucker managed to get some food in me, I puked. Well most of the time. There were some days where he could do a victory dance.

I sighed. Today just hadn't been one of those victory dance days. It was almost like he suffered with me, the way he looked when I couldn't eat. His whole face just...dropped. I'd never seen anything like it. He'd never been this way before. I wanted him to stop trying to help me. I wanted him to live his life without me holding him back. But I knew he wouldn't stop. He was never the type to give up on someone when they needed him most. It was true that I needed him, but I felt like this was all pointless. I wasn't able to eat enough to sustain myself and one of these days...I would go. Forever.

But he wanted to help me anyway. Whatever made him happy I guess. Or at least satisfied. Or maybe content. Oh, you get the point.

* * *

(Tucker's POV)

Today was a failure. It started out looking up. Sam was getting the food she so desperately needed. But right when things were seemingly in the clear, she started gagging and couldn't hold it down. She didn't even make it to the bathroom. She had to settle for a trash can.

Her skin was pale. And I don't mean pale as in the glow a ghost radiates. I mean pale as in Danny's hair when he went ghost. And for some reason he hadn't noticed that. She'd stopped helping him fight ghosts entirely, and he seriously didn't notice. He didn't notice that she was getting skinny. She wasn't skin and bones, not yet at least, but she was losing weight fast. Anyone else would see it, but not Danny. She hardly talked, she barely moved...and when she did talk it was always just above a whisper and raspy, and when she did move it was slow and shaky. Why didn't he ever notice these things? I was more than ready to tell him myself but...Sam didn't want me to. Maybe it was because she didn't want his pity.

But I didn't necessarily have to tell him. I could simply start helping the oddities of Sam become a little more obvious. Even Danny would have to notice them eventually. I couldn't afford to wait until Sam was reduced to nothing but skin and bones, otherwise I'd just let him figure it out himself. That apparently wasn't going to happen. He needed to know. He needed to be there for Sam. And hopefully he could help me get her to eat something. Pfft, something...how about _anything_?! She could eat grass, tree bark, leaves, dirt, anything at all so long as she ate! And she really loved him... It would make her so happy to know that Danny was trying to help her.

Because it was becoming obvious that I couldn't do this alone.

* * *

(Danny's POV)

"Hey, Sam!" I heard an overly and very intentionally loud voice call out. It was a male's voice, and it came from behind a row of bushes just on the edge of school grounds. I turned to look. Nothing. "You look kind of skinny!"

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the message was for me. There was only one Sam in Casper High and Tucker and I were the only ones who knew her. Not about her, not of her, but knew _her_. Plus, it was Tucker's voice, so...yeah, that kind of gave it away. But come to think of it, Sam _had_ looked thinner than usual lately. I wondered if Tucker knew why and was trying to tell me, or rather give me an implication, why.

Part of me didn't want to leave my wonderful seat this close to Paulina, but another part of me wanted to poke around and see what was up. It did seem pretty obvious, but there was always the possibility of it being merely coincidental, perhaps even a mistake.

"But you know! At least you're behind the bush, the one at the very end on the left side!" Uh... "Where no one would think to look!" Alright...well...um... "And nobody's gonna find you!" Ooookay...? "Especially not certain people!" What the...? "Namely someone with black hair!" Hold up, just- "And that person's a guy!" Ayup. That's me. "Because he's obviously not going to be Da- OW!"

...Yeah. My best guess was that Sam had just cut Tucker off by kicking or stomping on him with her combat boots. And I was usually right about this stuff, Tucker being attacked by Sam and whatnot. My curious part was starting to bug me, _dying_ to know what was happening back there. But Paulina was right there, so close... And there went my curiosity bomb again. I guess it wouldn't hurt to go find out what was happening, and then come right back. Besides, Tucker was giving me mental mail, and the polite thing to do was check it, right?

I quickly made my way toward Tuck's "hints" about his and Sam's location. Getting the impression that Sam would rather be alone with Tucker, which kind of gave me some ideas as to what they might be doing all by themselves back there, I decided it was best to be inconspicuous, and only peeked through the leaves of the bush. They were thick and it was a very clear view, but I did see Sam's back turned to me, and Tucker holding a half-eaten piece of bread. Both of them were sitting cross-legged and although I couldn't see her expression, I could tell Sam was angry at him. But for what? Yelling out at me? Or rather, for me?

I was tempted to climb through the bushes but I opted not to after a few seconds of deliberation. If they were all alone it meant that they wanted to stay hidden, probably to hide something from everyone else...including me. Something in my gut told me this had nothing to do with Tucker at all. If my gut was right, then it was all on Sam. But _what_?!

"You were talking way too loud!" Sam hissed. "Danny could've heard that!"

So I was right after all, they were keeping something from me. And Sam clearly didn't want me to find out. But why? Why would she keep secrets from me? We told each other everything! Well, as of now, _used_ to tell each other everything.

"That didn't give you the right to kick my guts out..." he groaned placing one hand gently over his stomach and wincing from the pain. That would leave a mark, I could tell. Which meant she was more serious than ever about keeping quiet about this...whatever it was. "Besides, it's not just hard for you. I keep trying and I know it's not your fault, but it's really hard."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I just don't want him finding out about this, okay? Please, don't tell him... For me...?" she choked out.

"Sam, it'll be so much easier on the both of us if you let him help. You know that as well as I do," Tucker replied softly.

I slowly pulled aside a branch, attempting to get a clearer view of what was going on. Neither of them seemed to hear the bush's leaves rustle.

Her voice cracked as she whispered in a strained tone, "No."

Tucker frowned. "At least think about it."

"I have! I don't want him to see me any differently, just don't tell him!"

See her differently...? She was my best friend and...though I had a crush on Paulina, I sort of had this little, you know...thing for Sam. Not that I could admit it to her, of course. Talk about seeing someone differently! Anyway, back to the original topic, no matter what it was, I wouldn't see her differently. She was Sam; always was, always will be. Honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, I wasn't exactly the judgmental type.

Tucker sighed heavily. "Please, Sam, just let him help. I know you want to; I know it would mean a lot to you. He's not judgmental."

Uh, yeah! That's what I just said!

"Well I'm not taking my chances-"

"What chances, Sam?!" he whisper-yelled. "Danny is the sweetest guy on the face of the planet, he can help and you know he can! Let him!"

The sweetest guy... So...Sam needed me and I wasn't there for her... How is that sweet? How is that even friendly or good-natured?

"He won't see me the same way anymore! Besides, he's too busy drooling over Paulina to notice anyway so let him be distracted, let him-"

I decided at that moment that I'd heard enough and thought it was time to join their conversation/argument. I stood up and nearly tripped several times as I struggled to get through the bush I'd been hiding in. But I managed.

"He's right you know, I'm not judgmental. Whatever problem this is, I won't see you any differently." I sat down beside her, scooting a little closer. "And if Tucker says you want my help, then I'll do what I can."

She was pale with pinkish specks on her face, just as she had been recently. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and her lips were parted in shock.

"How long have you been listening to us?" she quivered.

I smiled, trying to make her a little more comfortable around me. She obviously wasn't but hopefully, if I could lighten the mood...

"Oh, just long enough to know that you two are keeping something from me. And long enough to hear Tuck call me the sweetest guy ever." I shrugged. "It'd be nice to know what's wrong though."

Tucker opened his mouth to speak but Sam quickly lifted one of her boots and brought it down on his ankle. He hissed in pain and held said ankle.

"Nothing," she replied. Her voice was still shaky but it held more emotion this time.

I chuckled. "Yeah right. C'mon, what's the matter?"

Knowing Sam wasn't going to tell me anything, I noticed Tucker rapidly scoot back, to a point she couldn't reach him with her legs...or her weaponized boots. Sam drew a sharp breath but for some unknown reason, held back from lunging forward and strangling him. He didn't draw a sharp breath, just a deep one.

"Sam's mom died and now she won't eat," he explained in the best nutshell ever heard by human ears.

I literally couldn't believe what I just heard. I couldn't! My brain was having a hard time processing this, about Sam's mother dying and the fact that was refusing to eat... It explained everything, why she was skinny, why she was pale, why she was always slow and tired, and why she always had those pinkish splotches on her face. I...I was unsure whether or not I could ever register this. Why did Sam keep something like this from me? If it was a little secret, that was one thing, but this...! This was a huge deal and she didn't even think about telling me?!

...Well, no. She said she did think about it but was too scared of what I would think of her to actually do it. I couldn't be mad at her for this. I mean, if she really was too scared to tell me, I suppose that could be okay. But I just wanted to know...

"Wh-Why are you not eating?" I breathed, still very much in shock. I probably wouldn't even be able to pay attention to her answer.

And it wasn't even her answer I heard. It was Tucker who told me. All she did was pull her knees close to her and tuck her head in the gap they created between her chest and her knees.

"It's...well, I think I said that wrong. It's not so much that she _won't_ eat, but more so that she _can't _eat. At first she was too depressed and wouldn't eat anything, but now her body is rejecting any food I try to give her. She can't handle it anymore. Most of the time she'll throw up whatever she eats. I give her ginger ale to help keep it down but it hardly helps," he explained.

I slowly turned to Sam. She sniffled and as her breath softly hitched, I could tell she was crying. "Is this true, Sam?"

She nodded, very faintly, to the point where I almost didn't catch it.

"Well..." I continued, hoping to get her to say something...anything... "Why didn't you tell me? You told Tucker. I'm your best friend, we both are. So why didn't you tell me about this?"

She didn't, or maybe she couldn't, say anything. She merely sat there in the same position, not moving a muscle. The only signs of life she was showing right now were tears wetting her knees and her breath hitching. She had stopped the sniffling, I noted.


End file.
